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"If a programmer is hardwired to only use emacs or vi (for example) and could never consider using anything else, they may also fight any efforts to do unit tes
by graywh 19y ago
"If a programmer is hardwired to only use emacs or vi (for example) and could never consider using anything else, they may also fight any efforts to do unit testing or use version control or your build system."
If a programmer insists on using vi/vim, that may be a very good sign. I would bet that someone that insists on using a powerful editor is the most likely to do unit testing and use version control and probably already has/does.
Poll anyone?
- pchristensen 19y agoI don't even know that a poll is necessary here. I would bet that choosing something instead of accepting the default is one of the best predictors for finding great programmers (or great practicioners in any field).
- wheels 19y agoI'm a reasonably hard-core XEmacs user and I'm perfectly willing to admit that it's just stubbornness (and the fact that it's the same on all of the platforms that I develop on). The "strength" argument hasn't been true for some time. I don't think it says much about me being a good or bad developer. I think the question is more, "When is stubbornness useful"? I'm pedantic about Getting Things Right. That works for and against me. A lot of these sorts of blogs / essays tend to assume that good programmers are interchangeable. They aren't. Pedantry is a good quality when doing system architecture. It's a bad quality in consulting.